Flat knitted stocking welt



E. RUCKEL MIHINWMMHN 'TL-lg .E

v lNyENT Erwin Ruclel i BY Ns- ATTORNEY Feb. l5, 1938. E. RUCKEL FLAT KNITTED sTocKING WELT Filed May 16, 1936 2 Sheets-*Sheet 2 INVENTOR. E r w L' n Ru ck el BY wx YFATTORIE Patented Feb. 15, 193e l 2,108,615

u j UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FLAT KNITTED STOCKING WELT Erwin Ruckel, Richmond Hill, N. Y., assignor to Louis Hirsch Textile Machines, Inc., New York,

N. Y., a corporation of New York Application May 16, 193s, serial No. 80,028

2 claims. .(cl. esc-173) This invention relates to a new and useful im- Fig. 2 is a view of the nished welt;

provement in welts for full fashioned stockings Fig. 3 is a view of a welt containing a modiknit on flat knitting machines and to a method cation cf the invention;

and mechanism for knitting lt. Fig. 4 is a greatly enlarged view of the welt of A satisfactory welt must be strong to support Fig. 2 illustrating diagrammatically the manner 5 the many strains imposed upon it, particularly vin which it behaves when under strain; and

those radiating from the garter. It must be dur- Fig. 5 is a. view of a type of combined narrowable to withstand the wear and tear of the garter ing and lace comb suitable for use in knitting the and it must also be elastic so that itwill fit Welt fabric 0f'FigS 1 and 2.

1o properly legs of differing sizes. 'I'he welt shown in Figs. 1 and 2 consists of 10 T0 Secure durability and strength it has bee three different kinds of fabric. That of sections customary to knit the welt of relatively heavy l. 2 and 3 may be of the usual simple loop con-Y yarn. since such yarn is less elastic than nner struction and may be knit. if desired, from yarn yarns, to Asecure elasticity or, more correctly, of substantially the same weight as that employed 16 stretchability, it has been the custom to elongate in the leg- AS already Stated, ccnsiderably 15 the loops considerably. While this produces a heavier yarns are usually employed in the Welt in fabric having considerable stretch, lt is lacking Order t0 Obtain the necessary strength and durain all over elasticity with the result that strains, bility- By using them. hcWeVer, a greet deal 0f particularly the heavy strains centralized at the desirable elaSticity iS sacrificed By thiS inven- 20 points of garter attachment have to be sustion great circumferential elasticity is obtained 20 tained largely by a, limited number of loops inthrough the use of much lighter yarns and small stead of being well distributed over a considerable loops in the Sections l, 2 and 3. At the LSeine time fabric area. adequate strength and durability are obtained ,One of the main objectsof this invention is a through the reduction and improved distribution Welt fabric which automatically adjusts itself to 0f the Strains- The inner edges cf Section5 l'25 whatever strains are imposed upon it so that they and 3 are each bcrdered by e band 0f lace fabric are distributed and absorbed to better eifeet. As 4 running diagonally across the Welt from suba consequence of this feature the fabric may be stantially its outer edge'nt the tcp tOWardS the made of lighter yarn and smaller loops if desired center of the lower edge, as shown in Fig. l,

with consequent improvement in elasticity and formed by transferring. Say. alternate 100135 in- 30 without materially reducing durability and Werd by One needle by Ineens 0f lace P0intS- In- Strcngth. Also the elasticity of light yam small side of and paralleling each of these lace bands loop construction is of great assistance in propyare e Deir 0f diagonal bndS 5 0f fabric, icrnied erly'distributing and absorbing the strains, by transferring every loop inwardly one needle These features may be obtained by this invenby means of narrowing points. These bands also 35 tion without detracting from the appearance of run ,diagonally across the -welt and. preferably, the welt in any way. In fact the decorative meet in a point at the bottom edge. A picot effect is improved. Also the welt may be knit course I0 may alsobe included to form an attrae-.- upon a standard ilat knitting machine, such as tive 100D fOr the finished Welt- 40 the Karl -Lieberknecht machine, without other To knit fabric of this construction requires no 40 change than of the narrowing `combs, and by change in the standard nat knitting machine of 4 standard knitting methods. the Karl Lieberknecht-type, for example, beyond Another important feature of the welt of this substitution of special narrowing and lace points invention is that positive run-stop means is profOr thOSe usually employed- A Suitable ccinb iS vided which will prevent runs from progressing illustrated in Fig. 5. Itis provided with the 45 -into the leg. Also that fabric may be reinforced usual narrowing Points 5, Say eighteen in niilnif desired, in the garter section for example, withber,y having the Seine Spacing aS the needles 0f out producing the usual unsightly blocks or the machine followed by a series of lace points patches. l spaced according vto the lace pattern desired.

450 The forms of the invention selected for describ- The particular narrowing comb-shown is adapted l ing the invention herein and one form of modified to work upon the right side of the welt. A correnarrowing points are shown in the accompanying Spending ccinb is provided for vworking upon the drawings, in which left side of the welt. These combs are mounted Figure 1 is a view of a. welt blank of this invenin the usual wav upon the usual narrowing rods tion; and are manipulated by the usual narrowing 55 come unnoticeable.

spindles. When the transfer of loops by these combs occurs the loops on the needles corresponding to narrowing points 6 will be transferred inwardly one needle, producing bands 5. At the same time the loops upon the needles corresponding to the lace points 1 will also be transferred inwardly one needle producing lace bands 4. The result will/be the production of the fabric of Figs. 1 and 2 having two converging bands of fabric composed of closely spaced transferred loops outside of which are two bands of mesh or lace fabric. Because the loops are transferred inwardly the inner margins 8 of bands 5 will form a run stop construction. Therefore, any run 'which starts in the plain knit area 2 will stop The width of bands s may be anything desired..

A width of approximately eighteen needles has been suggested and shown because then the narrowing points can later be employed, if desired, in the usual way for the usual marginal narrowing of the leg fabric. Thus no change is required after knitting the welt in order that the machine may continue on to the knitting and fashioning of the leg in the usual way.

Aside from this bands 5 can be made as narrow as desired, even to the extent that they be- To do this the number of narrowing points 6 will be correspondingly decreased. Any great decreasein the number of narrowing points, however, may render the combination narrowingl and lace point combs unsuitable for use in fashioning the leg. In this case the combination combs should be mounted on their own narrowing rods and so that they can be swung out of the way when not in use, the fashioning of the leg being carried out by other narrowing combs of standard construction and operation.

The fabric of Fig. 3 differs from that of Figs. 1 and 2 only by the omission of diagonal bands 5 so that the fabric sections 1, 2 and 3 are intersected by the lace bands 4 only. This construction also possesses the positive run stop feature at the inner edge 9 of each band because of the superposition of the innermost of the transferred loops upon the outermost of the regular loops of section 2.

For the knitting of this fabric the combination narrowing and lace combs of Fig. 5 are not required. Instead lace combs only having the required number of points to producevthe width of lace desired spaced apart so as to be engageable with alternate needles as previously suggested are suflicient. These can be manipulatedinvthe ,y

' highly decorative in themselves but also frame garter.

garter severe but it is augmented by increaseddownward pull whenever the knee is bent. For

these reasons and also because the garter clasp wears or cuts the yarn runs begin with greatest frequency at the point of garter attachment.

Lace fabric is not only elastic in the direction of knitting and at a right angle thereto but also 5 when subjected to diagonal strains has the faculty of adjusting itself to meet them without material wrinkling. Therefore, by the inclusion of lace bands such as 4 elastic and flexible buffer sections are interposed between the plain fabric l0 sections which are able to change their shape inconformity with imposed strains and to transmit these strains back and forth between the plain knit sections. A diagrammatic illustration of the section of the lace sections under the pull of a garter is shown diagrammatically in Fig. 4. It will be noted that the lace sections have become narrow at Il, whereas at I2 they are wider than normal as a result of the difference in direction and strength of the garter pull and other strains upon these two sections. It will also be noted that the transition between the narrowed portions Ii and widened portions I2 are uniform and produce no noticeable wrinkling of the lace or the outlying fabric. Obviously this can result only from a systematically graduated distribution of the strains through the lace sections.

Equally obviously the adjacent plain knit sections benefit from this distribution.

The condition depicted by Fig. 4 is, of course, much simpler than that occurring ini fact. The actual action of the lace will v'a'ry somewhat from that depicted because of the many other strains imposed upon it in many directions, but it will serve to demonstrate how the direct upward pull of the garter which, ordinarily, is imposed largely upon the unreinforced fabric of the upper leg directly below it is turned aside and transmitted to a considerable degree to sections 1 and 3 of the welt which are not only highly elastic but also under much less strain than section 2.

Similarly the very great strains imposed upon the unreenforced leg fabric by bending of the knee are transmitted through the lace to the elastic welt and also thecircumferential strains suffered by each section of the welt are transmitted through the lace to the other sections. o

The lace may be compared roughly to a system of toggles whereby forces acting upon either side of the system and in any direction are equalized,

each toggle assuming the position dictated by the resultant the forces acting upon it whatever their strength may be or from whatever direction they 4may come.

It is not essential that the garter'section should be reinforced. If it is not it possesses as much .inherent elasticity as the sections lying beyond the lace. However, the same toggle action will take place thus relieving the unreenforced garter section of a considerable degree of the normal garter strain, distributing the strain over a greater area and more uniformly and imparting to this section the beneflts'of the elasticity of the outlying fabric areas. ,Y

It will now be evident that the most conspicuous feature of the fabric of this invention is the interposltion of Alace bands between sections of other character in the welt whereby strains imposed upon one section are more unduly and uniformly distributed and are cushioned by the elasticity of adjacent sections. 'I'he arrangements shown are preferred because they also prevent runs originating in any part of the welt, inside the lace bands, from progressing into the leg .--fV However, since the lace also constitutes a part of lace points need not be limited to correspond tothat of alternate needles but may be made to suit the type of lace desired. Also, the loop transfer need not be limitedI to the single needle transfer suggested.

Also, if desired, the lace' bands may be omitted from the fabric of Figs. 1 and 2, the plain bands 5 only being retained. Such a welt is attractive in appearance and possesses the run stop qualities heretofore described, although the benets derived from the lace bands would, of course, be absent.

I claim:

1. A flat knit welt for a full fashioned stocking composed generally of courses of unreinforced short loops composed of yarncorresponding in character and loop length substantially to the leg and a reinforced area for garter attachment, said reinforced area being framed by and separated from laterally adjacent unreinforced areas of fabric by sections having greater elasticity and -distortability than either the reinforced or unreinforced areas, said sections consisting of bands of lace fabric composed of transferred loops ex tending diagonally across the welt from substantially the top to bottom.

2. A flat knit Welt for a full fashioned stocking composed generally of courses of unreinforced short loops composed of yarn corresponding in character and loop length substantially to the leg and a reinforced area for garter attachment, said reinforced ,areas being framed by and separated from laterally adjacent unreinforced areas of fabric by sections having greater elasticity and distortability than either the reinforced or unreinforced areas, said sections consisting of bands of lace fabric composed of transferred loops extending diagonally across the welt from substantially the top to bottom, Asaid bands of lace also constituting the means for positively preventing runs which originate above said bands from progressing below said bands.

' ER-WIN RUCKEL. 

